30 September, 2004
The
Agony Of Kenneth Bigley
By Cahal Milmo
In a four-minute recording, broadcast on al-Jazeera,
and designed to maximise the pressure on Tony Blair, Mr Bigley, 62,
is shown accusing the Prime Minister of lying - before imploring him
to meet his captors' demands
Depopulating
Asia
By Bill Henderson
Peak oil is upon us, but very few understand the
consequences. Very few understand the importance of the signal that
the US is sending about how the US is going to react to peak oil
Even To Empire Rules
Apply
By Jeff Berg
The unilateral invasion of Iraq marks a turning
point in America's place in the world. It has brought to the fore in
a way that not even the death of millions in Indo-China could the fact
of U.S. financial and ecological mismanagement of the planets limited
resources
Huntington's
Paranoia
By Zawahir Siddique
Book review of Samuel P. Huntington's book "Who
Are We? The Challenges to Americas National Identity" in
which Huntington trains his guns on the Hispanics and African Americans
Media Culpability
In The Continuum Of
Violence Against Women
By Lucinda Marshall
Stories about violence in the home are routinely
trivialized as domestic matters and misogynist violence such as female
genital mutilation and honor killings are dismissed as cultural norms
29 September, 2004
Does
Anyone Remember Abu Ghraib?
By Robert Fisk
Kidnappers demand the release of women held prisoner
by the Americans. Abu Ghraib is what they are talking about. Abu Ghraib?
Anyone remember Abu Ghraib? Remember those dirty little snapshots?
The Emerging
Samidzat
By John Pilger
Never, in my experience, has free journalism been
as vulnerable to subversion on a grand, often unrecognisable scale.
How do we react to this? My own view is that the immediate future lies
with the emerging samidzat, the word for the unofficial media during
the late Soviet period
Greenlanders Mystified
By Incredible Shrinking Glacier
By Agence France Presse
The Groenlands Posten newspaper sent locals into
a tizzy when a few weeks ago it described how the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier,
one of the most active glaciers in the world, had receded by more than
five kilometers in the past two years
It's
The Occupation Stupid!
By Am Johal
The Al Aqsa Intifada is a disaster for Israelis
and Palestinians as it hits its fourth year with no significant advances,
no real agreement in sight or an end to the violence
Politics In
Demographics
By Ram Puniyani
The religion based census data can serve different
types of purposes. If this opens our eyes to the plight of this community,
poverty, illiteracy and insecurity and if we aim to redress it as a
nation , the data will be worth its while
28 September, 2004
Oil
Prices Hit Record $50
By Aljazeera
US oil prices reached a record $50 a barrel on
Monday as Nigeria emerged as the latest focus for worries about supply
in an already tight worldwide energy market
Vedic Olympics
By Satya Sagar
Satya Sagar figures out why India does not win
Olympic golds and points out some easy ways for Indians to achieve that
coveted goal
Toxic Pollution
And Mass Killings In Iraq
By Ghali Hassan
The American use of "depleted" uranium
(DU) munitions to attack Iraq in the 1991 and 2003 wars has unleashed
a toxic disaster that is much more dangerous and deadly than the crimes
committed on Vietnam by the use of Agent Orange
27 September, 2004
Is
OPEC Losing Control Over Oil Price?
By Adam Porter
Despite repeated pronouncements about an increase
in shipments, OPEC appears to be losing its ability to influence the
price of oil
The Hypocrisy
Over Beslan
By Joe Lauria
Terrorists who attack Russia have a reason grounded
in political grievances while those who strike the United States do
not
Abuse, Torture
And Rape Reported At
Unlisted U.S.-Run Prisons In Iraq
By Lisa Ashkenaz Croke
"Nobody talks about it. All everyone talks
about is Abu Ghraib because of the pictures," said Alomari. "But
in these other places, theres tons of acts of torture, abuse,
rape."
Madonna,
Mr. Big and Richard Gere
By Am Johal
The Israeli Tourism Authority, thinking of creative
ways to lure visitors back to the Holy Land, has taken to organizing
the high profile visits of Hollywood stars and pop divas to mixed reaction
24 September, 2004
Gujarat Government
Is Obstructing Justice
Human Rights Watch Report
The government of the Indian state of Gujarat continues
to obstruct justice and prevent accountability for the perpetrators
of violence committed during communal riots in 2002 that left as many
as 2,000 Muslims dead
Iconoclast,
Or Lost Idol?
By S Anand
Periyar E.V. Ramasamy broke Ganesha idols, burnt
Rama portraits. But his legacy has few takers today
The Women
Of The Sangh
By Jyotirmaya Sharma
The Sangh relentlessly argues for the liberation,
enlightenment, education and employment of Muslim women, something that
it rejects in its notion of the ideal Hindu woman
23 September, 2004
Antarctic
Glaciers Melting Faster
By Reuters
Glaciers once held up by a floating ice shelf
off Antarctica are now sliding off into the sea -- and they are going
fast
Fear Of Shortages
Behind High Oil Prices
By Firas Al-Atraqchi
Walid Khadduri, editor of Middle East Economic
Survey (MEES), believes fear of oil shortages in the future is behind
the upsurge in today's energy prices
Counting The
Civilian Cost In Iraq
By Matthew Davis
Thousands of Iraqi civilians have died as a result
of conflict and its bloody aftermath - but officially, no one has any
idea how many. Unofficial estimates of the civilian toll vary wildly,
from at least 10,000 to more than 37,000
Culture
And Dissent
By Am Johal
In Occupied Palestine, it is as if you live a dehumanized
existence from the day you're born. You are uneqal. You feel it everyday
in how power is exercised
Sparring Over
A Seat
By Praful Bidwai
The operational issue for the moment is: How valuable
is a permanent Security Council seat? Is it in the interest of global
security that the Council be expanded without being reformed?
The Periyar
Legatees
By Chandrabhan Prasad
On Periyar's 125th birth anniversary, Dalit intellectuals
of Tamil Nadu are engaged in serious re-thinking on Periyar, who is
fast emerging a social villain. Now, Dalits in Tamil Nadu are taking
pride in distancing themselves from the Dravidian movemen
22 September, 2004
Global
Warming May Spawn More Super-Storms
By Stephen Leahy
Hurricane Ivan, the incredibly powerful storm that
killed at least 120 people in the Caribbean and southern United States,
may be a harbinger of the Earth's hotter future
Still No Votes
In Leipzig
By Jonathan Freedland
US policy now affects every citizen on the planet.
So we should all have a say in who gets to the White House
Large Dams In
India --Temples Or Burial Grounds?
By Angana Chatterji and Robert Jensen
"There is no future here; we are living out
our days, focused on survival. The Narmada gave us life; they have turned
her against us."
Proliferation
Treaty
By George Monbiot
Of course Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons
- and has the legal entitlement to do so
After Abu Ghraib
By Luke Harding
Huda Alazawi was one of the few women held in solitary
in the notorious Iraqi prison. Following her release, she talks for
the first time about her ordeal
What
India, Pakistan Won't Talk About
By J. Sri Raman
Marked by polite smiles and prolonged handshakes,
the process continues without making the least progress on the two life-and-death
issues for the sub-continent's people- nuclear proliferation and Kashmir
21 September, 2004
Things
Fall Apart
By Patrick Cockburn
Things are falling apart in Iraq.Between them,
suicide bombers targeting Iraqi police and US air strikes aimed at rebels
have killed some 300 Iraqis since last Saturday - many of them were
civilians
The Final Verdict:
Iraq Had No WMD
By Julian Borger
The comprehensive 15-month search for weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq has concluded that the only chemical or biological
agents that Saddam Hussein's regime was working on before last year's
invasion were small quantities of poisons, most likely for use in assassinations
US Soldiers
Shoot First,No Questions Asked
By Gethin Chamberlain
His name was Ahmed Hameed and he was 36 years
old. He had taken the wrong turning up to the checkpoint on the July
14 Bridge.And that was the end of him
The Resort To
Force
By Noam Chomsky
Clinton's 1998 bombings of Sudan and Afghanistan
created bin Laden as a symbol, forged close relations between him and
the Taliban, and led to a sharp increase in support, recruitment, and
financing for Al Qaeda, which until then was virtually unknown
The
Diplomat Of Sheikh Jarrah
By Am Johal
Every regulatory burden imposed by israel has broader
purpose to weaken the Palestinian urban existence in places like Jerusalem,
Tel Aviv and Haifa and to shift central services to the Israeli centers
of town
Indian Census:
For A Better Understanding
By Yasser Arafath. P. K.
The Hindutwa forces are using the finding of the
latest census report to whip up communal frenzy. But we must take a
closer look and understand the broader prespectives
17 September, 2004
Ivan
Hits America:Jeanne On The Way
By David Usborne
No one wanted to hear it, but another hurricane,
Jeanne, was tracked westwards through the Caribbean last night, just
north of Puerto Rico and was expected to strike the United States mainland,
probably somewhere on Florida's east coast, late this weekend
Enough Already
By Dr. Trudy Bond
Enough already. Ive decided there are no
new editorials for me to read. Nothing to help me understand why the
American people are standing by and watching the total chaos and destruction
of the American government
'A
State Cannot Indefinitely Stand Against The World'
By John Dugard & Victor Kattan
An interview with John Dugard, UN Special Rapportuer
for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
What I Saw
At Babri Masjid
By Jeff Penberthy
Jeff Penberthy, then Time's bureau chief in New
Delhi,who was present when Babri Masjid was demolished, gives an account
of what he saw on December 6, 1992
Navayana-Provoking
Debates
By Shanta Gokhale
Three of the first four titles released by Navayana
, the new publishing house launched to open up for public debate issues
of caste and identity politics ignored by mainstream publishers, are
about dalithood, its manifestation, expression and representation in
public life and literature
16 September, 2004
Washington's
Secret Nuclear War
By Shaheen Chughtai
Illegal weapons of mass destruction have not only
been found in Iraq but have been used against Iraqis and have even killed
US troops. The US has dropped tonnes of depleted uranium on Iraq
Profit Knows
No Caste
By Chandrabhan Prasad
The Indian industry should free itself from "caste interest",
and democratise its workforce. It is in the private sector's interest
to earn more. If a Dalit engineer creates more value, then the industry
must prefer Dalits to non-Dalits